Sunday, March 1, 2009

What can I say? I love chocolate; I am a chocolate connoisseur. I believe that there is one Universal and International truth: chocolate is pure heaven for women and just another food for men. You can watch a woman melt into the experience of a piece of chocolate. Her shoulders relax and her eyes roll back and close, as she fully experiences her chocolate with a smile from ear to ear. It is like the world vanishes and peace engulfs the woman. I have watched stress, hurt, frustration and worry dissolve from the very frame of woman when she bites into a piece of chocolate. On the other hand watching a man eat chocolate is a disgrace. They chew the divine chocolate as if they do not even notice that heaven itself has brought them this gift.

The Good Stuff Chocolate Contains

Hormones and Emotions:

Chocolate is believed to be an unconscious attempt to keep hormone levels more steady. During PMS most women crave chocolate. The long standing debate is whether the cravings answer the body’s physical or psychological call for chocolate. Some believe that is all in our minds and we are feeding a guilty pleasure at our weakest moment. Others believe that our bodies crave some of the more than 400 chemicals found in chocolate, many of which affect mood.

The chemicals in chocolate affect levels of the body's mood-affecting chemicals, including serotonin, endorphins, theobromine and phenylethylamine. Serotonin is a chemical messenger in the brain that affects emotions, behavior, and thought. Endorphines are chemicals in the brain that are responsible for positive moods. Theobromine is stimulant found in cocoa which gives chocolate mood elevating effects. Phenylethylamine is a naturally occuring neuroamine which has been shown to relieve depression, increase attention and promote energy. Your body releases phenylethylamine in response to romance.

Health, Physically and Emotionally Speaking:

As it turns out chocolate really is good for the heart. According to new studies the antioxidants in dark chocolate may increase "good" HDL cholesterol levels as much as ten percent. The trick is to find a dark chocolate with a minimum content of 70% chocolate solids. Two ounces per day have been found to be beneficial to your health, providing protection against heart disease, high blood pressure and has as many cancer fighting antioxidants as a glass of wine.

Chocolate contains essential trace elements, naturally occurring chemicals and nutrients such as iron, calcium, catechins, magnesium, potassium, flavonoids and vitamins A. B1, B2, C, D, and E. I actually, even found studies proving that that dark chocolate can be a powerful cough supressant, treat diarrhea and stave off artery hardening in smokers. Most importantly, I have found that treating myself to two pieces of dark chocolate has kept me faithfully eating healthy and organic, and I never feel the need to binge or break my good habits because I never feel deprived.

Skin Deep:

When I was a teenager I was told that chocolate causes acne. Thankfully, that is no longer the prevailing belief. Chocolate in moderation has no ill effect on your skin. To make matters even better the cocoa bean contains cocoa butter which really is something you can rub all over yourself and bathe in. Cocoa butter softens and lubricates the skin and leaves every skin type feeling and smelling like a piece of heaven. Any time you chose a cocoa butter or chocolate themed body product, make sure that the scent comes from the pure raw cocoa butter. Try some of the wonderous products made with real cocoa butter for a true treat.

Junk food is a cultural definition applied to food made outside the home, often prepackaged or from fast food restaurants, that often is widely considered to taste good, in many cases to children and teenagers, or to adults who have developed a taste for the food since childhood. The primary distinction between junk food and healthy food is based on nutritional content, appeal, and taste.

Harmful Effects Of Junk Food

Lack of energy:

This is known as a short-term adverse effect resulting from eating junk foods. As junk foods don't provide you with essential nutrients, even though they can be very much sufficing, you feel weakened. Consuming deficient nutrients could be as a supplement.

Poor concentration:

This is another result of junk food habit. These are traced to affect in immediate and medium term periods. When you have a sumptuous junk meal rich in oil you feel drowsy and fail to concentrate. Over sustained periods of junk food eating, blood circulation drops due to fat accumulation. Lack of vital oxygen, nutrients and proteins particularly can stale your grey (brain) cells temporarily.

Heart Diseases:

Junk food diet is a major cause of heart diseases. Myocardial infarction (a sever heart failure) is due to plaque formation in arteries which demands heart to put in extra effort to pump blood on the down stream.

High Cholesterol

Apart from forming plaques and constricting arteries, cholesterol also affects liver where it is metabolized. High cholesterol from junk food and diet strains liver damaging it eventually. This is a long term effect.

How to Avoid Junk Food

Clever junk food advertising and the lure of convenience in addition to taste get people to junk food addiction. Awareness on junk food facts is lacking dramatically in every corner of the society. Here are some useful tips to avoid junk foods.

Junk food and children have a strange affinity to each other. This is partly so owing to junk food advertising. Do not let children to get habituated to junk foods.

Controlling children from eating junk foods in schools is another step that helps in a long term. Schools administration along with parents has a responsibility to educate children about junk foods in schools.

Junk food, the name itself is tempting enough. Eliminating the temptation is one way to avoid it. Keeping good food nearby and having meals right on time may help in this direction. Controlling the temptation is not as hard as alcoholism can be.

Develop awareness for fitness. This helps you separate junk food and diet from your regimen.

Finally, not all foods are junk; moreover, our bodies have enough stamina to take care off occasional junk food eating. However, beware; the lure is strong enough to get you addicted. It is in your hands choose junk food or health.